Brief Candles

101 Clerihews

Not since W. H. Auden’s Academic Graffiti has a poet of serious substance indulged so thoroughly in clerihews, those miniature (and often outrageously fictional) biographies invented just over 100 years ago by E. C. Bentley (1875–1956). In Brief Candles, Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Taylor takes on with hilarious irreverence people usually taken most seriously—members of the Supreme Court, poets laureate, literary theorists, Whitewater celebrities, and New Testament figures—demonstrating through 101 clerihews that one of the primary purposes of poetry is to have fun, even while craftsmanship remains paramount. Taylor’s shimmering wit and resourceful use of rhyme combine with whimsical illustrations by Heather Alexander to make these tiny playful pieces a rare treat for all readers. In times of tribulation, we can read the Book of Lamentations, or the Psalms, or just as likely, Henry Taylor’s clerihews. They are, as he calls them, Brief Candles, but they do give a satisfying light.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for The Flying Change, Henry Taylor has published seven previous poetry collections as well as the critical work Compulsory Figures: Essays on Recent American Poets. His other honors include the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse and the Witter Bynner Prize, both from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry; and membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He lives in the Puget Sound area of Washington with his wife.